Fani Willis encounters additional challenges in Georgia election lawsuit

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is staring down new hurdles despite surviving an effort by former President Donald Trump and others to disqualify her from their election interference case in Georgia.

A judge last month permitted Willis to stay on the case, but not before thoroughly admonishing her for failing to disclose a relationship she had with her lead prosecutor. Now, she is facing numerous other problems, including Trump’s appeal of that decision, a state legislative investigation, and a new allegation of misconduct by a defense attorney.

Trump and several co-defendants filed the appeal last week of Judge Scott McAfee’s decision not to disqualify Willis from the case. McAfee had found Willis displayed a “tremendous lapse in judgement” but said she could continue the prosecution so long as she fired Nathan Wade, with whom she had been romantically involved.

In Trump’s appeal, his attorneys argued McAfee made a “legal error” that required the Georgia Court of Appeals’s “immediate review.” The appellate court now has until early May to decide whether it will take up the matter.

The appellate court could reject Trump, and the case would then continue under McAfee’s watch. However, if it accepts the disqualification question, Willis will face a fresh set of challenges.

The case, which was derailed by two months of drama-filled legal activity over the initial disqualification question, would likely see further delays, easily pushing a trial out to beyond the election in November. Moreover, the appellate court would need to revisit detailed aspects of Willis’s personal life. Willis created an appearance of a conflict of interest with her relationship with Wade, according to McAfee, and she may have also lied under oath about it, the judge said. The appellate court would, if it took up the disqualification question, need to relitigate these details.

Beyond the possibility of further court review, other state entities have become interested in investigating Willis for impropriety. State senators plan to shift focus from their legislative session, which came to a close at the end of March, to using their special committee, approved in January, to investigate the district attorney.

Last month, in an interview with a local news outlet, Willis dismissed the committee as a “political quest.”

“I think it’s all just a political quest. I think that people are angry because I’m going to do the right thing,” Willis said. “They can continue their games, and I’m going to continue the work of the people.”

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Republican, said the committee has an obligation to investigate Willis and her “potential misuse of taxpayer money.” Among the financial questions her office is facing, Willis had paid Wade a hefty hourly rate, amounting to more than $650,000 in less than two years, for his work on the Trump case.

“Our investigative committee has the right and the responsibility to get to the bottom of this situation, particularly the potential misuse of taxpayer money,” Jones told the Washington Examiner. “I’m proud of the progress Chairman Cowsert and the members of the committee have made thus far, and I look forward to the committee building on their findings and making full use of their subpoena power to find the truth.”

At the federal level, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) has threatened Willis with contempt of Congress over an inquiry he launched into her use of federal grant money. Willis recently fired back at Jordan in a letter, claiming his demands were “politically motivated” but noting that she would continue meeting them on a “rolling basis” as resources allow.

Also drawing attention to discontent surrounding Willis’s handling of the Trump case are two challengers she is facing in this year’s race for district attorney: Democratic lawyer Christian Smith and Republican lawyer Courtney Kramer. Smith ran against Willis once before but lost by a wide margin, while Kramer’s campaign is viewed as a long-shot bid in a deeply blue county.

Harrison Floyd, one of Trump’s co-defendants, could further exacerbate Willis’s troubles. Floyd threatened legal action against Willis this week after he discovered a call between Willis and Floyd’s attorney had been recorded without the attorney’s permission.

“I don’t want to put a black woman in Jail,” Floyd wrote on X on Thursday. “But if @FaniforDA does not recuse herself from this case by noon on Monday, I may have no other choice than to pursue all lawful remedies.”

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Meanwhile, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), a fervent Trump supporter, has filed a complaint with Georgia’s bar association to disbar Willis.

“Fani should’ve been removed from her political persecution of President Trump after it was revealed she went on lavish vacations with her lover Nathan Wade. … Unfit to serve!” Greene said in a statement of the disbarment complaint.